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Published on 03/22/1999 All articles from this issue

Tickets to ride in Los Altos

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue

Town Crier Staff Writer

Some have had it with speedsters, others don't like the new traffic cops. Meanwhile, drivers are slowing down

Matt Hartley and Paul Arguelles are men with a mission. On Jan. 1, these two veteran Los Altos police officers became the city's first two officers dedicated to traffic enforcement.

Some folks are thrilled. "We're appealing to 98 percent of the people in town," said Kurt Ayers, chairman of the city's neighborhood traffic advisory task force that lobbied for the traffic officers.

Others are totally ticked. They rant, in letters signed and unsigned, against "radar-toting, cowboy motorcycle cops," the "do-gooder" task force and "this dictatorial style of leadership."

On Newcastle Drive, Arguelles said, "One guy followed me down (the street) and back, giving me the bird the whole time."

There's rage on both sides, from frightened parents who won't let their children walk to school because of speedsters; and from those who don't like cops in the bushes working "radar speed traps on the city streets of Los Altos."

But Hartley and Arguelles are getting results.

Tickets are up - way up - 660 in February 1999 vs. 323 in February 1998; 401 in January 1999 vs. 222 in January 1998.

"I think it's not just the traffic officers," said Sgt. Tom Connelly, "but in combination with an increased awareness of all officers."

Speeds are down - slightly - from 35 to 33 mph on Cuesta Drive after aggressive radar work. Feelings are running high as the city completes the third month of its efforts to respond to one of the top concerns of residents: calming neighborhood traffic.

Working radar

Hartley and Arguelles sat on their motorcycles between two parked cars on West Edith Avenue.

Their target: rush-hour, cut-through traffic, from 5-5:30 p.m., March 16, between San Antonio Road and Foothill Expressway.

They are assigned streets to "work with radar" based upon resident complaints. Lately, they've targeted West Edith Avenue. Both point their radar guns toward Foothill Expressway, facing cars coming down the slight hill.

Arguelles turns on his flashing lights and takes off after a driver.

West Edith is not a long street and could even be confused with a commercial street, since it adjoins downtown Los Altos. But the speed limit is 25 mph, as it is in most parts of town.

Here, driveways and cross streets create a "tight area," Hartley said, "so 37 mph down here is cooking pretty good."

Hartley flips on his lights and pulls a driver over for going 40. The driver had pulled out from Second Street, and said he'd "just gotten up a head of steam."

Some have criticized the officers for lurking in bushes. "We're putting officers in a safe space where they can easily measure speed," Connelly said.

Others have said the officers look like storm troopers in their aviator sunglasses and tall leather boots.

"You get bugs, you need glasses," Connelly said. "You get burns from the motor, you need leather boots," he said. "This is protection stuff, not storm-trooper stuff."

In a 30-minute period on Edith, the officers issued six tickets: two warnings, two speeding tickets and two for seat belt violations.

"I have zero tolerance for seat belt violations," Arguelles said, when he returned after writing a ticket. "We have seen a lot injuries that could have been prevented" if seat belts were on, he said.

Writing tickets

"We do not have quotas," said Police Chief Lucy Carlton. "The officers may write as many citations as they see. They're paid to stop cars and issue citations and warnings," she said.

"If you put a traffic officer out there and there are no tickets, it's a performance issue," Balch said.

"It's not about money," Connelly said. "It's about saving lives. People driving 40-45 mph tick us off. We're not interested in the revenues. We have the grant."

Yeah, right, detractors say, in their critical letters.

"We don't realize any particular benefit" from ticket revenue, Connelly said, because it all goes into the city's general fund. "The program is not self-funding and would not pay for salary and benefits anyway," he said.

"About $20 of a ticket goes into the general fund," Ayers said. "You cannot make money doing this." Not to mention that it is illegal to use ticket revenue to fund traffic officers.

The city was awarded a two-year grant of Federal money, $279,581, that is administered by the California Office of Traffic Safety. This is funding two officers, their training and motorcycles for two years.

Part of the grant's is to cite unlicensed drivers and those driving on a suspended license and impound their vehicles. A higher percent of accidents are caused by these drivers, so by getting them off the street is one way to reduce accidents, Connelly said.

The release fee for a towed vehicle is $115. And these fees are going into a city fund earmarked to continue the traffic officer program. In 1997 the city towed 300 vehicles. In 1999 the goal is to raise that to 375; and by the end of 2000 to have towed 431 vehicles, Connelly said.

But that's not enough money to fund two officers. One of the decisions facing the city council, during its budget process this spring, will be deciding if they will budget funds to continue the traffic officers beyond the life of the grant.

In the meantime, the council, in 1998, voted to fund a third traffic officer from operating expenses.

Traffic court

Hartley went to traffic court March 16 in Palo Alto to defend the first speeding ticket the city has had challenged under the new program.

About 9 a.m. on Jan. 8, Hartley cited a 47-year-old man in a Mercedes, for going 40 mph in a posted 25 mph zone on Cuesta.

"It was a targeted area," Hartley told Commissioner James Heath, who was presiding. "It is a known cut-through from El Monte to Mountain View." The officers had issued warning citations in that area before the program began, Hartley said.

The driver pleaded not guilty, said he was not speeding, that the radar gun must have been "errant." The driver lives in Mountain View, works in Palo Alto, and travels the route three to four times per day, he said.

"My car is my dream car, and it gets to 45 mph in second gear," he said. He also told the commissioner he believed Hartley was selectively enforcing because the ticketed driver said he saw another pass going 50 mph whom Hartley did not stop.

Hartley said he didn't see it, and would have pulled over the other driver if he had.

The commissioner found the driver guilty of going 40 in a 25 zone but suspended the fine, he said, "because of your good record."

Slowing down

There are few exceptions to the 25 mph speed limit around Los Altos. On Foothill Expressway, it is 45 mph; on San Antonio Road it is 35 mph. And on parts of Grant Road, Fremont Avenue and Homestead Road, it is also 35 mph.

"It takes a commitment to go 25," said city councilwoman Kris Casto. "We have to work really, really hard at 25."

This is a city with few sidewalks. So cars are "that much closer to your front yard," Casto said. That also means pedestrians and children on bicycles are closer to the streets.

"Unless we're proactive, these are all the makings of a tragedy," Ayers said.

A speed of 25 mph does seem slow, Connelly said. "But that one time when a kid comes out on a bike or is chasing a ball, at 35 vs. 25 you travel an extra 100 feet," to stop, he said. "That's critical when you're talking about a kid."

To someone standing beside the road and seeing a car go by at 35, "it seems like a rocket ship," said Capt. Cliff Balch. "In residential streets people expect 25. We want people to feel safe." Going 36-37 mph is "just too fast."

"Is it safe to go 10 miles over the speed limit? No," Ayers said.

Speeding accidents

The high percent of injury accidents in town, where speed was a factor, backs that up. In 1994, there were 46 injury accidents with speed as the primary collision factor, Connelly said. That was 37 percent of the total accidents for the year.

In 1995, the numbers were 44 injury accidents with speed, 33 percent of the total; in 1996, 46 injury accidents with speed, 39 percent of the total; in 1997, 36 injury accidents with speed, 30 percent of the total.

That's a high percentage for speed as the primary factor," Connelly and Balch said. In other cities, typically running a red light or a stop sign or failing to yield, is a more significant factor than speed, they said.

To slow drivers down, "people have to decide it's important. They need to embrace it," Casto said.

The bottom line for slowing down is not dollars and cents. "The true measure of success," Connelly said, "is to reduce speed around town."

All agree: People want their neighborhoods to feel safe again.